Young innovators take centre stage at Levenmouth Academy’s first Dragons’ Den event
In April, pupils at Levenmouth Academy stepped into the spotlight for their first Dragons’ Den event, sparking creativity, confidence and community-driven innovation.
Led by H100 Fife in partnership with Social Enterprise Academy, the initiative brought together around 200 S1 students to develop and pitch business ideas aimed at tackling real-world challenges.
Students answered three key questions: what they want to change in the world, how they could create a business to address that issue, and how they would develop their idea. The result was a series of thoughtful and ambitious pitches, reflecting issues close to home – from environmental concerns to social wellbeing.
The event comes against a backdrop of significant challenges in the local area, where many young people face barriers to engagement in traditional academic settings. By blending enterprise education with real-world application, organisers aimed to re-engage students and provide them with practical skills in confidence-building, presentation, project planning and financial management.
Throughout the day, groups of students presented their ideas to a panel of dragons from SGN’s H100 Fife team. Among them was Director of Hydrogen Operations Kevin MacDonald, who played an active role in questioning and encouraging participants.
Kevin said: “It’s been incredibly inspiring to see the level of creativity and thought these young people have brought to their ideas. Events like this are about more than business – they’re about giving young people a voice and showing them that their ideas can make a real difference in their communities.
“By supporting initiatives like this, we hope to help address some of the social challenges facing the area while empowering the next generation with skills and confidence.”
The event also aligns closely with Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence, demonstrating how enterprise education can be used as a tool to engage students who may feel disconnected from traditional learning pathways.
Deputy Headteacher, Graham Henderson, said: “Taking part in the Dragon’s Den event with our S1 pupils this year was a fantastic opportunity for them to develop the key literacy and numeracy skills they have been developing in their new Interdisciplinary Project Based Learning classes. The workshops delivered by the Social Enterprise Academy to staff and pupils were well received and were very supportive of us to embed this into our lessons.
“The Presentation Day provided an excellent opportunity for our pupils to showcase their products, their social cause and the work they had been completing as part of the programme! All 320 S1 pupils contributed to this in some way, which is no easy task!”
As part of the programme, all participating groups will receive seed funding to help bring their ideas to life, with additional recognition awarded for one Overall Winner, two Best Presentations, and three Highly Commended.
With overwhelmingly positive feedback from students and staff alike, the success of the first Dragons’ Den event has already sparked conversations about making it a regular fixture in the school calendar.
As the final pitches wrapped up, one thing was clear: the future of Levenmouth is in capable, creative hands.